The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread April 2009

[MarkOttawa]

ARTICLES FOUND APRIL 13

TOP GENERAL EXPECTS SPIKE IN VIOLENCE
Globe and Mail, April 13
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090413.AFGHANSIDE13ART22252/TPStory/?query=Mart+De+Kruif

An influx of U.S. troops scheduled to infiltrate the most volatile areas in this country's south is predicted to cause an initial spike in violence, the region's top NATO general says.

Dutch Major-General Mart de Kruif, commander of all international security forces stationed in Afghanistan's six southern provinces, warned a contingent of Afghan journalists yesterday that the addition of nearly 20,000 troops during fighting season might seem jarring for locals. Fresh soldiers will arrive in stages, starting immediately with a U.S. aviation brigade [emphasis added] consisting of about 3,000 troops to be based in Kandahar province and more than 100 much-needed helicopters. By late spring [emphasis added], they will be joined by the massive 8,000-person 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade [emphasis added] from Camp Lejune, N.C. [Actually 10,000 in all:
http://toyoufromfailinghands.blogspot.com/2009/03/afstan-marine-expeditionary-brigade-to.html]
The final rollout of 4,000 soldiers, drawn from the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team [emphasis added] based in Fort Lewis, Wash., will deploy in late summer[emphasis added].

"You will see an increase in incidents because we will go to places where we have never been before, Gen. de Kruif said, adding: "We will be able to put much more pressure on the insurgents. We will hunt them down in their save havens."

Gen. de Kruif said it could take up to a year to establish security across the region and set the stage for reconstruction and development efforts that have been slowed by ongoing violence.

Mark
Ottawa

 

[George Wallace]

ARTICLES FOUND APRIL 13

Female politician's murder a 'blow' to Afghan society

LINK


The brutal murder of a female member of Kandahar's Provincial Council on Sunday afternoon is "a big blow" to Afghan society, says the council's chair.


13/04/2009 4:17:19 PM

CTV.ca News Staff

Sitara Achakzai died when four gunmen on motorcycles ambushed her outside her home in Kandahar city before driving away.

The Taliban quickly released a statement claiming responsibility for the killing.

Ahmed Wali Karzai, chair of Kandahar's provincial council and brother to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said Achakzai's murder will likely deter women from seeking elected office or taking other government jobs.

"That will definitely affect the family. No one will take a risk to send their daughters and their mothers and their wives to become a member of parliament," Karzai said.

"So definitely, it's a big blow for the Afghan society," he added.

In addition to her role on the council, Achakzai was a well-known women's rights activist who was a vocal proponent of women working outside the home.

While she spent the years of Taliban rule living in Germany and has travelled to Canada to visit family in the Toronto area, Achakzai returned to Afghanistan to help with reconstruction, as well as to encourage women to fight for equal rights.

She had recently organized marches across the country for International Women's Day.

Lauryn Oates of the organization Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan said the fact that the Taliban claimed responsibility for the murder indicates Achakzai was likely killed because of her beliefs about women's rights.

"(In the statement) they used the words that she was involved in 'bad things' without elaborating on what exactly that meant," Oates said Monday on CTV's Canada AM. "I think we can assume it just meant that she was a woman who worked outside her home and she was involved in politics with the government that they are opposing. So she was a worthy target for that reason."

According to Oates, Achakzai had recently been receiving death threats and had plans to leave the country for an extended period of time on May 1. Conflicting reports suggested she was going to either Germany or Canada.

Achakzai's death comes at a time when the world's attention is once against focused on Afghanistan over the plight of women in that country.

The so-called Shia Family Law, which legalizes rape within marriage and confines women to the home unless they have a male escort, was passed by Afghanistan's national assembly but has not yet been enacted.

News of the law sparked outrage among Western nations, including Canada, which forced President Karzai to issue a statement saying that he has ordered a review of the legislation.



More on LINK


Slain Afghan women's rights advocate had Canadian ties

LINK[/color]

Canadian relatives of a women's rights advocate slain in southern Afghanistan over the weekend say they warned her of the dangers of working in the country.

13/04/2009 11:50:31 AM

Sitara Achakzai, a member of Kandahar's provincial council, was killed Sunday when four gunmen on motorcycles opened fire as she got out of her car outside her home in Kandahar City.

Qari Yousef Ahmedi, a Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Achakzai, a dual German-Afghan citizen, spent the years of Taliban rule in Germany and returned to her native country five years ago to fight for women's rights, her relatives said.

Her mother, two sisters and extended family live in Markham, northeast of Toronto.

Achakzai's niece, Maryam Maiwand, told CBC News that her aunt last visited Canada three months ago and was due to return in May.

"She was a beautiful person," Maiwand said. "She was always willing to help anybody she crossed paths with."

Friends afraid to speak

Achakzai's female friends and colleagues in Afghanistan were too afraid to speak publicly about her slaying, the CBC's Alan Waterman reported from Kandahar.

One friend of Achakzai's who did not want her name revealed for security reasons said Achakzai was seriously considering not returning to Afghanistan after her planned trip. She added she, too, was planning to leave the county in the wake of her friend's murder.

Maiwand said her family was always warning her about the risks she was taking, but Achakzai was "very hard-headed" and believed she could make a difference in her home country.

"We told her it's dangerous, especially for a woman, back in Afghanistan," she said.

"She didn't listen. She said, 'At least I'm going to try.' "

'Big blow for Afghan society'

Ahmed Wali Karzai, chair of the provincial council and brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said Achakzai's slaying would definitely have an effect on the number of women participating in the country's elections in August.

"No one will take a risk to send their daughters and their mothers and their wives to become a member of parliament," Karzai said.

"Forget about government jobs. It is a big blow for Afghan society, especially Kandahar."

Karzai also pleaded with those looking to leave Afghanistan after the latest attack, especially women, to stay and continue working to improve the country, the CBC's Waterman reported.

But Karzai also advised them to take security precautions, noting that Achakzai did not have bodyguards at the time of her slaying.

More on LINK[/color]

 

[Yrys]

ARTICLE POST APRIL 12

Les combats se multiplieront dans le sud de l'Afghanistan

...
The command of the Region the South ventilated in detail the arrival of the American reinforcements
long-awaited. The 82nd air Brigade of fight, with its 3000 soldiers and its hundred of helicopters, will
soon be established in the air base of Kandahar, which is the strong place of the coalition in
Afghanistan.

The 2nd expeditionary Brigade of Marine ( MEB), consisted of 8000 men, will be mainly displayed
in the center and in the North of the province of Helmand, at the end of the spring.

Finally, the 5th Team of fight of the Brigade Stryker, among which 4000 soldiers will arrive
in the middle of the summer, will go to the province of Zaboul, as well as in the North and
in the South of the province of Kandahar.

(I can't find the exact same quote of that article in English...)

NATO troop commander says battle in southern Afghanistan will be pivotal

 

[Yrys]

ARTICLE FOUND APRIL 14

Taleban 'kill love affair couple'

The Taleban in Afghanistan have publicly killed a young couple who they said had tried
to run away to get married, officials say. The man, 21, and woman, 19, were shot dead
on Monday in front of a mosque in the south-western province of Nimroz. Nimroz is an
area where the Taleban have a strong influence.

Governor Ghulam Dastageer Azad told the AFP news agency the killings followed a decree
by local religious leaders and were an "insult to Islam".

Dangerous region

Mr Azad said: "An unmarried young boy and an unmarried girl who loved each other and
wanted to get married had eloped because their families would not approve the marriage."

Officials said the couple were traced by militants after they tried to go to Iran. They were
made to return to their village in Khash Rod district. "Three Taleban mullahs brought them
to the local mosque and they passed a fatwa (religious decree) that they must be killed.
They were shot and killed in front of the mosque in public," the governor said. He said there
were some reports that the families of the young couple could have links with the Taleban.
The Taleban could not be immediately reached for comment.

Correspondents say that the killings took place in a remote and dangerous region, where the
government has no access. The Taleban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 and during that
time implemented its austere interpretation of Islamic Sharia law, carrying out public killings
and floggings. Unmarried men and women were forbidden from talking or meeting in public
and women were not allowed out of their homes without a male relative. Girls were
discouraged from going to school.

Extrajudicial "honour killings" have been widely carried out in Afghanistan since then by
conservative families angered by a relative who has brought them shame - usually by
refusing to marry a chosen partner. The Taleban have widened their influence over the
past three years and now control many remote districts where there are not enough
coalition forces to establish a permanent presence.

 

[MarkOttawa]

Pakistan president signs off on Islamic law deal
AP, April 13
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD97HPDKO0

Pakistan's pro-U.S. president signed a regulation late Monday [April 13] to put a northwestern district under Islamic law as part of a peace deal with the Taliban, going along after coming under intense pressure from members of his own party and other lawmakers.

Asif Ali Zardari's signature was a boon for Islamic militants who have brutalized the Swat Valley for nearly two years in demanding a new justice system [see here for some real brutalization]. It was sure to further anger human rights activists and feed fears among the U.S. and other Western allies that the valley will turn into a sanctuary for militants close to Afghanistan.

Whatever criticism may come, Zardari can claim some political cover — the National Assembly voted unanimously [emphasis added] Monday [April 13] to adopt a resolution urging his signature, although at least one party boycotted. Earlier, a Taliban spokesman had warned lawmakers against opposing the deal.

Zardari's spokeswoman, Farahnaz Ispahani, confirmed the president signed the regulation Monday night.

His signing implemented a deal agreed to in February by provincial officials to impose Islamic law in the Swat Valley and surrounding areas in exchange for a cease-fire between security forces and the local Taliban...

United Militants Threaten Pakistan’s Populous Heart
NY Times, April13
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/14/world/asia/14punjab.html?ref=todayspaper

DERA GHAZI KHAN, Pakistan — Taliban insurgents are teaming up with local militant groups to make inroads in Punjab, the province that is home to more than half of Pakistanis, reinvigorating an alliance that Pakistani and American authorities say poses a serious risk to the stability of the country.

The deadly assault in March in Lahore, Punjab’s capital, against the Sri Lankan cricket team, and the bombing last fall of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, the national capital, were only the most spectacular examples of the joint campaign, they said.

Now police officials, local residents and analysts warn that if the government does not take decisive action, these dusty, impoverished fringes of Punjab could be the next areas facing the insurgency. American intelligence and counterterrorism officials also said they viewed the developments with alarm.

“I don’t think a lot of people understand the gravity of the issue,” said a senior police official in Punjab, who declined to be idenfitied because he was discussing threats to the state. “If you want to destabilize Pakistan, you have to destabilize Punjab.”

As American drone attacks disrupt strongholds of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the tribal areas, the insurgents are striking deeper into Pakistan — both in retaliation and in search of new havens.

Telltale signs of creeping militancy abound in a belt of towns and villages near here that a reporter visited last week. Militants have gained strength considerably in the district of Dera Ghazi Khan, which is a gateway both to Taliban-controlled areas and the heart of Punjab, the police and local residents say. Many were terrified.

Some villages, just north of here, are so deeply infiltrated by militants that they are already considered no-go zones by their neighbors.

In at least five towns in southern and western Punjab, including the midsize hub of Multan, barber shops, music stores and Internet cafes offensive to the militants’ strict interpretation of Islam have received threats. Traditional ceremonies that include drumming and dancing have been halted in some areas. Hard-line ideologues have addressed large crowds to push their idea of Islamic revolution. Sectarian attacks, dormant here since the 1990s, have erupted once again.

“It’s going from bad to worse,” said a senior police official in Dera Ghazi Khan. “They are now more active. These are the facts.”

American officials agreed. Bruce Riedel, who led the Obama administration’s recently completed strategy review of Pakistan and Afghanistan, said the Taliban now had “extensive links into the Punjab.”..

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

ARTICLES FOUND APRIL 15

Lessons from Iraq? US creates local militias to fight Taliban
With echoes of the Anbar Awakening in Iraq, the US is arming, training, and paying Afghans to set up village militias.
Christian Science Monitor, April 13
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0413/p06s10-wosc.html

Maydan Shahr, Afghanistan - At first sight, Muhammad Nasim Gul and his men – in drab, olive-colored fatigues and baseball caps to match – look like Cuban guerrillas. They slowly patrol the muddy streets of Wardak Province, weapons drawn in a constant state of alert.

They stand sentry, night and day, on the watch for intruders and other enemies. At times they stop to talk to the townsfolk, to see if anyone has had any trouble recently.

Mr. Gul and his fellow tribesmen are part of an ambitious new American-backed program that started here two weeks ago to train, uniform, and arm locals against the Taliban. Officials turned to the idea following the success of a similar plan in Iraq, known as the Anbar Awakening, in which Sunni tribes were armed to fight Al Qaeda. They hope the program, dubbed the "Afghan Public Protection Force," can help stem the worsening violence here.

"My tribesmen joined this force to protect our village," says Mr. Gul, a former policeman who is now a commander in the protection force of the Jalrez district of Wardak, a 30-minute drive from Kabul.

Under the plan, members of each district shura (council) in Wardak nominate locals for the force who are then trained for three weeks by Afghans (with the involvement of American advisers). They then return to their home districts, receiving nearly $125 dollars a month in salary – more than the typical police income, which is usually less than $100 a month. If successful in Wardak, officials plan to expand the program to more than 40 other districts across the south and east.

Afghan and American officials stress that the force is not a tribal militia. "The shuras [which nominate the force] are not from one or two tribes, so they will bring people from all the villages," says Barna Karimi, director-general of the Independent Directorate of Local Governance, a government body that works with the local shuras.

Pitting one ethnic group against another?

But in practice, the force is shaping up along tribal and ethnic lines. In Jalrez, one of two districts where the program has started, only 38 of the 128 members of the force are Pashtuns. The rest belong to other ethnic minority groups. But the Taliban and its supporters are almost entirely Pashtun, as is the majority of Jalrez district.

"It is not wise to use members of one ethnicity to combat members of another ethnicity," says Waliullah Rahmani, a policy analyst with the Kabul Center for Strategic Studies.

Of the 38 Pashtuns in the Jalrez force, all belong to a single tribe, the Kharoti. Several locals say that other tribes in the area refused to join. "We are the only tribe that joined this program," says commander Gul. "All of the rest of the tribes are angry at us and think we are helping the infidels."

"Unfortunately, most of the tribes living in these areas are not supportive of the current government," says Mr. Rahmani, "and they are not likely to fight against the insurgents."

Critics of the program contend that arming specific tribes is dangerous in a country with a recent history of civil war.

But government officials defend the composition of the force, saying it can fight the insurgency only with those who are most willing, regardless of ethnicity or tribe.

Recruits don't want to fight Taliban

While in Iraq the Sunni tribes were asked to fight against outsiders – Al Qaeda – in Wardak the majority of insurgents are locals. "People in my district are pessimistic about the effectiveness of these forces," says Roshanak Wardak, a parliamentarian from Saydabad district. "They say that if they joined, they would end up fighting their own brothers, because the Taliban in my district are locals; they are not from Pakistan or Kandahar."

Even those who neither have ties to insurgents nor support them say they fear reprisals if they join. "The Taliban in Wardak are very powerful," says one local from Jaghatu district, who asked not to be named for security reasons. "Even those against the Taliban are scared to join."

Some say that even if they do join, it might not be for the reasons that officials envisaged. "I would like to join and defend my community," says one local from Saydabad district, who also asked not to be identified, "but only against criminals. I don't want to fight against the Taliban."

Fazel Qazizai, from Chak district, says, "Most of us just want money for food and a weapon for security. Just think about it – one Kalashnikov is $600. Where could I ever get that kind of money? But in the protection force, we'll get one for free. And we'll get an ID card so that the police can no longer harass us."

But he adds, "We have no interest in going to war with the Taliban."..

In Recruiting an Afghan Militia, U.S. Faces a Test
NY Times, April 14
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/world/asia/15afghan.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

MAIDAN SHAHR, Afghanistan — The ambitious American plan to arm local militias in villages across the country was coming down to a single moment.

The American officers sat on one side of a long wooden table; a group of Afghan elders on the other. The pilot program was up and running, but the area’s big enclave of Pashtuns — the ethnic group most closely identified with the Taliban — had not sent any volunteers. The Pashtuns were worried about Taliban reprisals.

“We agreed to meet today and, I believe, make a decision,” Lt. Col. Kimo Gallahue told the 11 elders. “Time is running out.”

Then he laid down a challenge: “I am so proud to be in the same room with the men who defeated the Soviet Union. Please find the courage to take responsibility for your own security.”

The elders, in their turbans and beards, stared blankly at the Americans across the table.

For two hours, the meeting unfolded, laying bare the torments facing any Afghan Pashtuns who might be contemplating defying the Taliban — and the extraordinary difficulties facing American officers as they try to reverse the course of the war.

The meeting in Maidan Shahr, Wardak Province’s capital, tucked into the mountains about 30 miles southwest of Kabul, concerned one of the most unorthodox projects the Americans have undertaken here since the war began in 2001: to arm, with minimal training, groups of Afghan men to guard their own neighborhoods.

The military is borrowing a page from a similar program that helped bring about the recent calm to Iraq, where the Americans signed up more than 100,000 Iraqis, most of them Sunnis and many of them insurgents, to keep the peace.

The hope here is that the militias will come to the aid of the overwhelmed Afghan Army and the police, which take longer to train and equip and number only about 160,000. Hundreds were killed last year in Taliban attacks.

If the militias work in Wardak, the Americans say they want to replicate them throughout the country. So the experience in Wardak has been instructive, for what the Americans can accomplish and what they cannot...

Mark
Ottawa

 

[GAP]

Articles found April 15, 2009

Afghan 'anti-rape' women attacked
Article Link

Dozens of Afghan women who tried to protest against a new law they say legalises rape within marriage have been attacked in the capital, Kabul.

Police intervened after supporters of the law threw stones at the women and tried to seize their banners.

The law was signed by President Hamid Karzai but is currently being reviewed after criticism from abroad.

Its most controversial article says a woman must make herself available for sex with her husband when he desires.

The law's defenders say it actually protects the rights of women.

'Revisit and overturn'

Thursday's demonstration took place outside a religious centre run by a cleric who helped draft the law which is aimed at Afghanistan's Shia minority.
More on link

UN investigates itself over allegations of fraud in Afghanistan   
www.chinaview.cn  2009-04-15 05:14:23      Print
  Article Link

    UNITED NATIONS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is "clearly disturbed" over allegations that it has refused to cooperate with investigations into squandered grant money from a U.S. aid agency to be used in Afghanistan reconstruction projects, UNDP spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here on Tuesday.

    "The UNDP is angry over any misconduct," Dujarric told a press conference here, adding that the United Nations was conducting an audit and an investigation of its own.

    A recent investigation conducted by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) acquired by U.S. newspaper USA Today through the Freedom of Information Act depicted a scene of gross mismanagement of USAID funds by the UNDP under the Quick Impact Projects (QIP), a 25.6 million U.S. dollars cooperative agreement to generate jobs in reconstruction infrastructure projects throughout Afghanistan.

    The UNDP subcontracted QIP projects to the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), which then subcontracted the projects to local contractors, in what has been called "ill conceived from the beginning," according to one unnamed USAID contractor.

    Dujarric told reporters that the vast majority (of QIP projects)were completed successfully despite that the USAID investigation claimed projects worked on by UNOPS "were not completed as claimed" and had "defects and warranty issues that UNDP refuses to address."
More on link

Nixed Canada arms deal cost lives: inquiry
23 hours ago
Article Link

OTTAWA (AFP) — A German arms dealer Tuesday told a public inquiry that a failed deal for light armored vehicles with former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney had cost the lives of Canadian troops.

Karlheinz Schreiber said initial negotiations back in the late 1980s with Mulroney's government to build a Thyssen light armored vehicle plant in eastern Nova Scotia province with a first order of 250 vehicles "went very well."

But he said he was stymied by Canadian generals and then deputy defense chief Robert Fowler, and the plant was never built.

Schreiber said he hoped to establish Thyssen in Canada in order to pitch its new light armored vehicle to Washington to replace M113 armored personnel carriers that formed the backbone of the US Army's mobile infantry.

He estimated the global market for light armored vehicles at 360 billion dollars. "And I would have received 1.8 billion dollars" in commissions, he added.

But he said his main concern was the loss of lives in war zones after the nixed purchase of what he described as a superior vehicle with better armor.

"I'm frustrated today because this is the reason why our soldiers are (being) killed in Afghanistan," he said. "It is not about a few bucks of commission. This is about lives.
More on link

 

[MarkOttawa]

ARTICLES FOUND APRIL 16

Memo From Islamabad
Pakistan Rehearses Its Two-Step on Airstrikes
NY Times, April 15
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/world/asia/16pstan.html?ref=todayspaper

With two senior American officials at his side, the Pakistani foreign minister unleashed a strong rebuke last week, saying that American drone strikes against militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas were eroding trust between the allies.

The Americans, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, and the special envoy, Richard C. Holbrooke, defended their strategy for Pakistan. Later, Mr. Holbrooke dismissed the salvo by the foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, saying it was to be expected.

In fact, both sides have grown accustomed to an unusual diplomatic dance around the drones. For all their public protests, behind the scenes, Pakistani officials may countenance the drones more than Mr. Qureshi’s reprimand would suggest, Pakistan and American analysts and officials say.

Why else would Pakistani military officials be requesting that the United States give them the drones to operate, asked Prof. Riffat Hussain, of the defense studies department at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad.

His answer is that senior Pakistani officials consider the drones one of their only effective tools against the militants. Moreover, using the drones takes pressure off the Pakistani Army, which has proved reluctant to fight the militants, or incapable of doing so, in the rugged mountains along the Afghan border.

“If the government of Pakistan was not convinced of the efficacy of the drone attacks, why would they be asking for the technology?” asked Professor Hussain, who also lectures at the National Defense University, the main scholarly institution for the military.

Most of the aircraft, about the size of a Cessna, take off with Pakistani assent from a base inside Pakistan [emphasis added], American and Pakistani officials acknowledge. A small group of Pakistani intelligence operatives assigned to the tribal areas help choose targets, while the drones, armed with Hellfire missiles, are remotely piloted from the United States, they said.

Permission for the aircraft to strike in the tribal areas was negotiated by the Bush administration with the former president, Pervez Musharraf, and then with the current leader, Asif Ali Zardari. The Obama administration has renewed those understandings [emphasis added], American and Pakistani officials say.

The cooperation has been successful. Nine out of 20 senior operatives from Al Qaeda on a list compiled last year have been killed, according to American military commanders, a fact the Pakistanis do not dispute.

But as effective as the attacks have proved, the Pakistanis’ discomfort with the drones is real. The larger issue surrounding the drone strikes is the trade-off between decapitating the militant hierarchy and the risk of further destabilizing Pakistan — by undercutting the military and civilian government, by provoking retaliatory attacks from the militants, and by driving the Taliban and Al Qaeda deeper into Pakistan in search of new havens [see end of this post].

Then there is the matter of public perception, particularly over the civilian casualties caused by the drone strikes, which infuriate Pakistani politicians and the media...

Pakistan Dodges A Bullet (usual copyright disclaimer)
Washington Post, April 16, by David Ignatius
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/15/AR2009041502843.html

A month ago, Pakistan came close to a political breakdown that could have triggered a military coup. How that crisis developed -- and how it was ultimately defused -- illuminates the larger story of a country whose frontier region President Obama recently described as "the most dangerous place in the world."

A detailed account of the March political confrontation emerged last week during a visit to Islamabad by Ambassador Richard Holbrooke and Adm. Mike Mullen. As described by U.S. and Pakistani officials, it's a story of political brinkmanship and, ultimately, of a settlement brokered by the Obama administration.

At stake was the survival of Pakistani democracy. Allies of President Asif Ali Zardari attempted to cripple his political rival, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. The opposition leader took to the streets in response, joining a "long march" to Islamabad to demand the reinstatement of Pakistan's deposed chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry. The march threatened a violent street battle that could have forced Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani, the army chief of staff, to intervene.

The confrontation demonstrated the fragility of Pakistani politics. But it also showed that after some initial mistakes, the three key players -- Zardari, Sharif and Kiyani -- were able to defuse the crisis. The lesson for nervous Pakistan-watchers is that however enfeebled the country's elite may be, it isn't suicidal.

"I think Pakistan's politicians are growing up. They are realizing that you have to meet the people's needs or you get kicked out," says Shuja Nawaz, the author of "Crossed Swords," a study of the Pakistani military.

For the Obama administration, the Pakistani crisis posed the first big diplomatic test. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, joined by Holbrooke and Mullen, helped coax the Pakistani officials back from the brink. This intervention was deftly handled, but it deepened America's involvement in Pakistani politics -- a process that is creating a dangerous anti-American backlash.

The crisis began in late February when the Zardari-backed Supreme Court ruled that Sharif and his brother Shahbaz, the chief minister of Punjab, could not hold office. The governor of Punjab, also a Zardari loyalist, then seized control of that powerful province -- in what Pakistani commentators saw as a putsch by the president against his chief rival.

The lawyers' movement began its march on March 12, pledging to occupy Islamabad until the government restored Chaudhry to his post. Zardari sent a police force known as the Rangers into the streets of Lahore, apparently hoping to intimidate Sharif and the marchers. But Sharif evaded the police and joined the protesters as they headed north toward Islamabad.

Kiyani then faced the moment of decision. According to U.S. and Pakistani sources, Zardari asked the army chief to stop the march and protect Islamabad. Kiyani refused, after discussing the dilemma with his friend Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Meanwhile, Kiyani called Sharif and told him to return home to Lahore, according to one source. And he called the leader of the lawyers' movement, Aitzaz Ahsan, and told him to halt in the city of Gujranwala and wait for a government announcement.

Pressure on Zardari was also building within his People's Party. According to a U.S. official, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani told the president on the night of March 15 that he would resign if Chaudhry wasn't reinstated. (Zardari's camp says it was only a rumor of resignation.) In any event, Gillani went on television at 5 the next morning to announce that the former chief justice would return. The crisis was over.

Pressure for compromise came from Clinton and Holbrooke, in phone calls to Zardari and Sharif. According to Pakistani sources, the American officials signaled to Sharif that they wouldn't object to his becoming president or prime minister some day. Another key intermediary was David Miliband, the British foreign secretary, who urged dialogue with Sharif.

Last week's visit by Holbrooke and Mullen reinforced the deal. They saw the key players and came away hoping that the three could form a united front against the Taliban insurgency in the western frontier areas, rather than continuing their political squabbling. Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's ambassador to Washington, praised Holbrooke's diplomacy. "He brings hope that complex problems will be resolved."

On the political scorecard, Zardari came out a loser and Sharif and Gillani as winners. But the decisive actor was Kiyani, who managed to defuse the crisis without bringing the army into the streets.

Mark
Ottawa

 

[GAP]

Articles found April 16, 2009

FACTBOX-Security developments in Afghanistan, April 16
Thu Apr 16, 2009 3:09am April 16 (Reuters) -
Article Link

Following are security developments in Afghanistan reported as of 0630 GMT on Thursday:

HELMAND - Three militants were killed while planting landmines on Wednesday in Helmand province, which lies 590 km (365 miles) to the southwest of the capital, the interior ministry said.

KANDAHAR - Afghan police have arrested two men accused of assassinating a female member of the provincial council of Kandahar, 450 km (280 miles) southwest of Kabul, at the weekend, the ministry separately said on Thursday.

EASTERN AFGHANISTAN - A soldier from the NATO-led force in Afghanistan was killed by an explosion in an eastern part of the country on Wednesday, the alliance said. It did not specify the soldier's nationality.

(Compiled by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
end

Pakistani Taliban in Swat refuse to give up arms
The militants had struck a deal to relinquish their weapons in return for Islamic law in the region.
By Anand Gopal posted April 16, 2009 at 8:35 am EST
Article Link

Militants in the Swat valley of northwestern Pakistan are refusing to abandon their weapons, despite having won concessions from Pakistan's president, including the imposition of sharia, or Islamic law. The announcement deepens worries that the agreement with the militants will not bring peace to the region.

While militants aligned with the Pakistani Taliban struck a peace deal with authorities in Swat in February, the accords were not implemented until this week, when President Asif Ali Zardari signed the agreement. Though the terms of the agreement were not revealed, government officials had said that the militants would have to relinquish their arms. But Reuters reports that Taliban militants said they would not abide by that deal.

A Pakistani Taliban spokesman in the scenic valley, a one-time tourist destination 125 km (80 miles) northwest of Islamabad, said they would be keeping their guns.

"Sharia doesn't permit us to lay down arms," Muslim Khan said by telephone. "If a government, either in Pakistan or Afghanistan, continues anti-Muslim policies, it's out of the question that Taliban lay down their arms."

However, the spokesman for the Swat Taliban faction also said that the guerrillas would abstain from displaying weapons in public, according to the Asian Tribune.

Militants ... put [a] ban on the display of any kind of weapon by anyone including their own activists in the public places including markets.

Talking to the media persons in Mingora (Swat) on Tuesday, spokesman for Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Muslim Khan, said there will be no display of arms by the Taliban members in Malakand division [which encompasses Swat].

He said they had taken up arms only for implementation of sharia and now when the government had signed the bill for its implementation militants have no desire for use of weapons.
More on link

 

[GAP]

Articles found April 17, 2009

22 dead in earthquakes in Afghanistan
Article Link

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- A pair of moderate earthquakes struck Afghanistan on Friday, killing at least 22 people and destroying 200 homes, an official said.

The quakes hit the Sherzad district of Nangarhar province, about 50 miles southeast of the capital, Kabul, district governor Said Rahman told CNN.

The first, just before 2 a.m. (5:27 p.m. EDT) registered at magnitude 5.5, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The second, centered a few miles away, struck about two hours later and measured magnitude 5.1.

The Afghan army has been deployed to help with rescue efforts, said Gen. Mohammed Zahir Azimi, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense.

The U.S. military said it will provide humanitarian assistance
end

Japan, US pledge $1 billion each to Pakistan
By ERIC TALMADGE – 6 hours ago
Article Link

TOKYO (AP) — The U.S. and Japan pledged $1 billion each at an international donors' conference for Pakistan on Friday to help bolster the country's flagging economy and fight the war on terror.

Saudi Arabia pledged $700 million and the EU another $640 million.

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said in a speech opening the one-day conference in Tokyo that the meeting was aimed at bolstering stability — in both Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan — by providing infrastructure and economic support.

"Stability in border areas is a key and I want to stress that the international community supports comprehensive strategies by the two nations," he said.

Aso announced Thursday that Japan would provide up to $1 billion in aid to support Pakistan's economic reforms and its fight against terrorism, while the U.S. issued a statement Friday that it will give $1 billion.

Both countries will make their contributions over the next two years, and neither represented a dramatic change from their current pattern of donations. The EU and Saudi pledges were also for the next two years.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari was hoping for as much as $6 billion in pledges, but the meeting's Japanese hosts said they expected the figure to be closer to $4 billion.
More on link

US seeks transit deal with Turkmenistan
21 hours ago
Article Link

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP) — A senior U.S. diplomat says the United States hopes to reach an agreement with Turkmenistan on allowing the transit of non-lethal goods to neighboring Afghanistan.

Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher says he discussed the possibility of overland cargo transit and overflights in Wednesday's talks with President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov.

The United States has already managed to secure agreements on sending nonmilitary supplies overland through Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan also shares a border with Afghanistan. Worsening security on the Afghan border with Pakistan has forced NATO allies to seek safer transit routes.
More on link

Battalion sent to Afghanistan after 2 weeks in Iraq
By Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY
Article Link

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq — Welcome to Iraq. Now go to Afghanistan.
That was the message delivered to the Army's 4th Engineer Battalion just two weeks after arriving in Baghdad for what was supposed to be a year-long tour.

Despite the stress caused by the unusual change of plans last month, many of the unit's approximately 500 soldiers said they realized their specialty — clearing roads of bombs and other obstacles — is more needed in the area of southern Afghanistan, where they'll likely begin patrols in a few weeks.

"If we were in the frying pan, we're now heading directly into the fire," Capt. Heath Papkov, one of the unit's company commanders, said this week as the soldiers packed their gear to leave.

Moving a unit directly from one theater of war to another on such short notice is very rare, said Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, the battalion's commander. Usually when troops are shifted from Iraq to Afghanistan, the change occurs between regular rotations abroad, after they spend several months at their home base.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Barack Obama | Afghanistan | Iraq | Baghdad | Army | Lexington Institute | Loren Thompson | Engineer Battalion
The decision underscores how military commanders are scrambling to meet President Obama's orders to draw down the U.S. presence in Iraq while deploying an additional 21,000 troops to combat the growing insurgency in Afghanistan
More on link

 

[GAP]

Afghan minister survives suicide strike on home
Fri Apr 17, 2009 1:57pm BST 
(Adds quotes from minister, details from police chief)
Article Link

HERAT, Afghanistan, April 17 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's minister of refugees' resettlement survived an attack on his residence by two suicide bombers wearing explosive vests, the minister and other officials said.

"I am fine. Two suicide bombers tried to enter my house but were identified by policemen," the minister, Abdul Karim Brahawi, told Reuters.

Three civilians were killed and 16 wounded in the attack on his home in Zaranj, capital of Nimroz Province, he said.

Provincial Police Chief Jabar Purdeli said the first attacker was a man disguised as a woman in a burqa. He was intercepted by guards trying to enter the building and detonated his explosives during a shootout.

Police then chased the second attacker, who was wearing a military uniform. He exploded his bomb in crowd of bystanders, killing the three civilians.

Nimroz governor Gulam Dastagir Azaad also confirmed the attack.

Nimroz, a sparsely populated desert province in Afghanistan's southwest corner bordering on Pakistan and Iran, has seen insurgent attacks as well as criminal violence.

Brahawi is himself a former governor of the province and has held other posts in the central government in Kabul. (Reporting by Sharafuddin Sharafyar; writing by Peter Graff; editing by Jerry Norton and Valerie Lee)
More on link

 

[greentoblue]

Some Good News - Turning Tables, U.S. Troops Ambush Taliban With Swift and Lethal Results

NY Times, 17 Apr 09

Extract:  "An American platoon surprised an armed Taliban column on a forested ridgeline at night, and killed at least 13 insurgents, and perhaps many more, with rifles, machine guns, Claymore mines, hand grenades and a knife."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/17/world/asia/17afghan.html?ref=world&pagewanted=all
----

The writer admits it won't change the war or even the struggle in the Korengal Valley by itself but as the Taliban themselves know, wars are won by countless small unit victories. 

 

[MarkOttawa]

Afghanistan: defending women
Conference of Defence Associations' media round-up, April 17
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1239978204

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

ARTICLES FOUND APRIL 18

2,000 British troops ready for Afghanistan mission
The Times, April 18
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6108730.ece

Two thousand troops designated by army chiefs for possible deployment to Afghanistan to boost Britain’s military presence to 10,000 are on “high readiness for operations”.

The troops have just completed an intensive final training programme on Salisbury Plain and army sources warned that there were risks if the men had to wait around for a long period before being given a combat mission. “It’s a perishable set of skills,” one source said.

Defence officials said, however, that despite the operational readiness of the troops, there had been no political decision over whether the personnel from 12 Mechanised Brigade should be sent to Afghanistan.

Arguments for and against are continuing in Whitehall, with the Ministry of Defence and the Treasury said to be on opposing sides. The Treasury is worried about the costs that will have to come out of its reserves. With 21,000 extra American troops deploying to Afghanistan in the summer, however, Britain has been under pressure to boost its contribution in the expectation of a surge in Taleban attacks in the south...

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

ARTICLES FOUND APRIL 20

U.S. troops train to advise Afghan forces
Reuters, April 19
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/19/AR2009041902086.html

FORT POLK, Louisiana (Reuters) - When U.S. soldiers rolled into an Afghan security force base in their Humvee vehicles at dawn one cold morning, they came not to lead but to listen.

As a cigarette-smoking Afghan army officer explained how he planned to arrest an insurgent, using a rough layout of a nearby village sketched in the sand, the U.S. troops' commander asked questions instead of barking instructions.

"We're going to talk to the elder first, right?" the U.S. Army captain asked. "You'll be in the lead?"

The setting was rural Louisiana but the exercise gave the U.S. troops a taste of a mission they will face later this year as part of President Barack Obama's strategy for Afghanistan -- advising Afghan forces instead of leading the fight.

To prepare them, the Fort Polk base is set up as a mini-Afghanistan, complete with the crackle of blank gunfire, booming fireworks to simulate bomb attacks, Afghan role-players and mock villages being created by Hollywood set dressers...

MORE TRAINING, LESS TRIGGER-PULLING

The center's staff go to considerable lengths to make the training as realistic as possible. They have goats to roam around the mock villages and troops who are allowed to grow beards and long hair to play the role of insurgents.

They also pride themselves on constantly updating their scenarios. Right now, for both Afghanistan and Iraq, that means focusing more on teaching troops how to act as mentors to local security forces.

U.S. troops are due to cease combat missions in Iraq by August next year and the Obama administration has placed more emphasis on expanding and training Afghan forces.

"We're going to get good at combat advisorship," said Yarbrough. "We're not pulling the trigger quite as much."

That statement rings particularly true for the paratroopers training at the center from the 4th Brigade of the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division, based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina...

COMBAT AND CULTURAL AWARENESS

Despite the focus on advising Afghan forces, the training also includes plenty of combat practice.

As the U.S. soldiers and their Afghan partners who mounted the arrest operation drove away from the village, an explosion shattered the calm of the forest and smoke rose into the air, signaling the convoy had been hit by a roadside bomb.

The sounds of gunshots and rocket-propelled grenades rattled through the trees as a battle with insurgents ensued, using a laser system that determines whether the participants have been hit by the blanks fired.

But the training also reflects the U.S. military's increasing embrace of the idea that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan must be won by winning the support of the local population rather than primarily by killing enemy fighters.

That lesson has been learned the hard way as U.S. officers acknowledge they knew little about the societies they were dealing with in the early years of the wars.

Even the most junior soldiers at Fort Polk go through an exercise in which they try to build relationships with Afghan villagers by visiting their shops, cafes and public buildings.

To make the scenario as realistic as possible, some of the Afghans complain about U.S. forces, the lack of security and the dearth of funds to help with development projects...

Afghanistan may double police force
Reuters, April 19
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/19/AR2009041900678.html

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan may double its 82,000-strong police force and will train 15,000 new recruits in time for the presidential election on August 20, the interior minister said on Sunday.

More than 70,000 foreign troops are based in Afghanistan fighting a resurgent Taliban, mainly in the south and east.

Military commanders recognize foreign troops can ultimately only buy time before the Afghan army and police force are expanded. The United States is to send 4,000 police trainers to Afghanistan this year [emphasis added].

Interior Minister Hanif Atmar told a news conference Afghan authorities had asked international donors to approve a "strategic increase" in the size of the force.

"Our request was a strategic increase of the numbers of the police in Afghanistan and two: an interim increase until we are able to basically implement the strategic increase," Atmar said.

"Initially we thought that the Afghanistan police size needs to be doubled in order to meet the requirements," he said. "We will have to do a deeper study to establish and determine the needs, and the response to the needs."

The results of the study should be known in June.

Atmar said the international community approved on Sunday a government proposal to recruit and train 15,000 police as an interim measure before the August presidential election.

These new police would help provide security in the most vulnerable provinces and in the capital Kabul, said Atmar.

The United States and Canada have pledged funding [emphasis added] for the training, he said, while most of it would be carried out by the new U.S. police trainers...

Mark
Ottawa

 

[GAP]

Articles found April 20, 2009

Jets target Pakistani militants 
By M Ilyas Khan BBC News, Islamabad 
Article Link

Army jets and helicopters have launched air strikes on a number of militant sites in north-western Pakistan, officials say.

The strikes in the Orakzai tribal region come a day after a suicide car bombing killed more than 20 soldiers in nearby Hangu district.

A key deputy of leading militant warlord, Baitullah Mehsud, is said to be based in Orakzai.

The deputy, Zulfiqar Mehsud, had said he carried out the Hangu attack.

Supply route

The casualties in the Orakzai strike are unclear.

An army spokesman contacted by the BBC confirmed the strikes in the Afghan border region but had no details on casualties.

An army official told the Reuters news agency at least 20 militants had been killed when jets and helicopter gunships hit their hideouts in the Ghaljo area of Orakzai.

A suspected US drone also targeted Orakzai three weeks ago, killing more than 10 suspected militants.

Zulfiqar Mehsud is reported to have been involved in disrupting supplies to Nato in Afghanistan from his bases in Orakzai.
More on link

Polish travel agency takes tourists to Afghanistan
The Associated Press Posted: 04/20/2009 10:26:01 AM PDT
Article Link

WARSAW, Poland—A Polish travel agency has offered a special package tour for the intrepid tourist—a trip to Afghanistan. Poland's Foreign Ministry promptly countered by issuing a travel warning.
Poznan-based Logos Travel advertised the two-week tour, departing in May, as "only for those seeking bruises and adventure." It said the 12 places, costing up to $3,700 apiece, have all been booked.

However, reports of the offer spurred Poland's Foreign Ministry to warn Poles against unnecessary travel to Afghanistan, where NATO forces are struggling to tame a relentless Taliban insurgency.

The ministry said the country "remains a zone especially susceptible to terrorist attacks" and said Poles could be targets for kidnappers due to the presence of some 1,600 Polish troops in the NATO force.

The agency's owner, Marek Sliwka, said he is aware of the dangers such a trip poses—but believes that, with security precautions such as armed guards who will accompany the group, it is safe enough for tourists.
More on link

Soldier's 'lucky' bullet escape
20 April 2009 10:45 UK
Article Link & Video

A soldier has been described as "the luckiest in the British Army" after a bullet hit his helmet, but missed his head by 2mm.

Private Leon "Willy" Wilson, 32, a Territorial Army soldier from Manchester, was knocked over by the impact of the shot in Afghanistan.

The father of three was back on duty within an hour of the near-miss
end

US asks for elite NZ troops for Afghanistan war
1 day ago
Article Link

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The U.S. has formally asked New Zealand to send its elite Special Air Service combat troops back to Afghanistan for a fourth tour of duty, the foreign minister said Sunday.

The U.S. request was made following a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Washington earlier this month, Murray McCully told TV One. While Clinton asked for troops, she did not specifically request the commando unit, he said.

The government is likely to agree to send the elite troops, which last served in the untamed southern portion of Afghanistan in 2006.

New Zealand has committed to help fight terror, posting troops in Afghanistan and providing navy ships and maritime surveillance airplanes to patrol the Gulf of Hormuz between Iraq and Iran.

McCully said the government would consider resource and capacity issues before making a decision on the U.S. request. The deployment also depends on other conflicts in the South Pacific, he said.

McCully said a detailed review of defense forces would be completed by August.

New Zealand already has 140 troops serving in a provincial reconstruction team in the Afghan province of Bamiyan, northeast of the capital, Kabul. The team has been there since 2003 and is to remain until at least September 2010.
More on link

 

[MarkOttawa]

ARTICLES FOUND APRIL 22

Military situation in Afghanistan will get worse, Petraeus says
Sees need for US to adapt strategy
Boston Globe, April 22
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2009/04/22/military_situation_in_afghanistan_will_get_worse_petraeus_says/

CAMBRIDGE - General David Petraeus, architect of the US military surge credited with dramatically reducing violence in Iraq, told a forum at the John F. Kennedy School of Government yesterday that the military situation in Afghanistan will probably deteriorate in the near term.

"We do believe we can achieve progress, but it's going to get worse before it gets better," said Petraeus, the leader of US Central Command, which oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"When you go into the enemy's sanctuaries, they will fight you for it. There will be tough months ahead, without question," he said.

US strategy will have to be adapted for Afghanistan, where a buildup of more than 20,000 additional troops will have to be accompanied by a subtle cultural understanding of on-the-ground differences between Iraq and Afghanistan, Petraeus said.

"You have to apply it in a way that's culturally appropriate," he said. "You don't move into the villages; you have to move to the edge of it."

By contrast, one of the components of the Iraqi surge's success was a US move away from garrisoning troops at big military bases outside population centers and seeking more direct contact with the enemy and with the people of Iraq.

"You can't commute to the fight," Petraeus said at the forum moderated by David Gergen, director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Kennedy School.

Petraeus, who served as the top US general in Iraq for 19 months before assuming leadership of Central Command in October, said Americans will need to reach out to Taliban moderates...

Pakistan Faces Threat From Terrorism, Not India, Petraeus Says
Bloomberg, April 22
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aIiUxXbnM2wM&refer=home

The greatest threat facing Pakistan comes from terrorism, not India, U.S. Army General David Petraeus said, as he called on the government in Islamabad to change its mindset toward its neighbor.

The shift in thinking that should take place in Pakistan is similar to what happened in the U.S. after the Cold War, Petraeus said in a speech at Harvard University yesterday, adding America had grown “comfortable” facing off against the Soviet Union.

“The existential threat” facing Pakistan “is internal extremists and not India,” Petraeus, who commands American Forces in the Middle East and Central Asia, said in the speech at the Kennedy School of Government.

The Obama administration is pressing Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari to do more to tackle al-Qaeda and Taliban militants sheltering in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last month that tensions with India over the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir were diverting Pakistan from the fight against extremism...

Pentagon Commander Visits Afghanistan
AP, April 22
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/04/22/world/AP-AS-Afghanistan.html

FORWARD OPERATING BASE AIRBORNE, Afghanistan (AP) -- The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is reviewing a new community-based defense program recently started in an increasingly violent province on the doorstep of Kabul.

Adm. Mike Mullen visited Wardak province on Wednesday, where U.S. troops deployed for the first time this year. The program he's assessing draws volunteers from Afghan communities to defend their villages against militants.

''The early reviews are positive,'' Mullen told The Associated Press. ''We are in the beginning stages, and this is a pilot, and we chose Wardak because it is such a critical province, and that's why I came today to see how things are going on the ground.''

Mullen said that Wardak was ''critical for the security of Kabul.''

Earlier this month in Wardak, 240 Afghans -- a ragtag collection of farmers, students and other unemployed men -- completed three weeks of training for the Afghan Public Protection Force. Though the program is U.S.-funded, it is overseen by the Afghan Interior Ministry, which is responsible for the country's security forces.

The community-based force has echoes in the American military's efforts in Iraq to form alliances with Sunni Arab tribesmen. The Sunni militias helped turn the tide in Iraq, contributing to a dramatic reduction in violence, but friction has arisen between the militias and the Shiite-led government. There have been clashes in recent weeks.

Gen. David McKiernan, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, told the AP earlier this month that if the Wardak program is successful, the community defense initiative will be expanded to other parts of the country [emphasis added]...

Afghan presidential candidates hope to conjure up Obama magic
Politicians are trying out his name and his Web-savvy tactics in their nascent campaigns
Globe and Mail, April 22
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090422.AFGHANOBAMA21ART2153/TPStory/International

KANDAHAR -- On paper, the "Obama of Afghanistan" is not unlike the Obama of America: He advocates for change, for empowerment of the poor and exploited minorities, and for reformed democracy. Having been elected to government office once before, he has proven himself committed to serving his country and people.

The similarities pretty much end there, but that has not stopped presidential candidate Ramazan Bashardost from billing himself as "Afghanistan's Obama," attaching the U.S. President's name to his fledgling campaign.

In fact, with several months to go before campaigning can officially begin, several politicians vying for Afghanistan's top office appear to be channelling Barack Obama, either in name or by emulating his campaign's trademark Internet strategies in an effort to start a buzz among the critical mass of young voters.

It seems to be working. Thousands of young people, many of whom have never cast ballots, have already pledged their support online for a handful of politicians expected to run in the country's second direct presidential election. The names are not yet official because Afghan law prevents politicians from declaring their candidacy until April 25...

Obama to Host Talks With Afghan, Pakistani Presidents
Washington Post, April 22
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/21/AR2009042103756.html?referrer=emailarticlepg

The presidents of Pakistan and Afghanistan will travel to Washington early next month for meetings with President Obama as the administration struggles against daunting hurdles to implement its new strategy for the region.

The visits, on May 6 and 7, will elevate to summit level a trilateral exchange begun by the administration with senior aides from each government in late February. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai will meet separately with Obama, and the three will also sit down together, officials said yesterday.

The administration considers cooperation between the two often-estranged governments crucial to the success of its Afghanistan-Pakistan policy. The Pakistani side of their shared border harbors a growing network of extremist groups, including al-Qaeda and the Taliban, providing sanctuary for fighters combating U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan and launching terrorist attacks inside Pakistan itself.

Obama has emphasized that the two countries should be considered in a single strategic framework. But administration officials have made clear that their deepest and most immediate concern is Pakistan, where the stability of the civilian government and its ability to withstand the extremist onslaught is increasingly in doubt. Worries were heightened last week when Zardari approved an agreement authorizing sharia, or Islamic law, in the Swat Valley -- just 100 miles west of the capital, Islamabad -- after the Pakistani military failed to rout Taliban fighters there.

With no U.S. military forces on the ground in Pakistan, the administration has fashioned a policy based on diplomatic backing for the civilian government, close mentoring and support of the Pakistani military, aerial-drone-launched missile attacks on terrorism targets, and vastly increased economic assistance focused on the western Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

At a Pakistan donors conference in Tokyo on Friday, the administration pledged $1 billion in economic aid in anticipation that Congress will approve a $7.5 billion, five-year package of assistance along with $3 billion in military equipment and training. A bill authorizing the aid has already been introduced in the House, although with conditions that the administration and the Pakistanis find too restrictive...

Taliban claims victory near Islamabad
CNN, April 22
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/04/22/pakistan.taliban/index.html

Taliban militants who implemented Islamic law in Pakistan's violence-plagued Swat Valley last week have now taken control of a neighboring district.

Control of the Buner district brings the Taliban closer to the capital, Islamabad, than they have been since they started their insurgency. Islamabad is 60 miles (96 km) from the district.

"Our strength is in the hundreds," said Moulana Mohammad Khalil, as heavily armed men openly patrolled the roads in pickup trucks, singing Islamic anthems.

The militants had taken control of the area to ensure that Islamic law, or sharia, is properly imposed, Khalil said.

The government called the advance into Buner a breach of a recently-signed peace agreement...

Taliban flex muscles in Malakand Division
The Long War Journal, April 22, by Bill Roggio
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/04/taliban_flex_muscles.php

Just one week after the Pakistani government agreed to implement sharia, or Islamic law in the vast Malakand Division, the Taliban are flaunting the peace agreement with the government and pushing into neighboring regions.

President Zardari signed the sharia legislation into law on April 13 as part of an effort to quell the brutal Taliban insurgency in Swat, which has been ongoing since the summer of 2007. The Pakistani military was defeated in its three offensives designed to oust the Taliban, led by Mullah Fazlullah, which prompted the government to promise the implementation of sharia and an end to military operations in exchange for peace.

But the Taliban have violated the peace agreement multiple times since the initial ceasefire was instituted in mid-February, and have continued to do so since Zardari signed the sharia legislation into law. And the Taliban are forcefully expanding their influence in neighboring regions.

The Taliban have reestablished checkpoints in Swat and have started to conduct patrols. Yesterday, the Taliban kidnapped six soldiers and a driver in Swat. Today four civilians were kidnapped while four of the captured soldiers were placed in front of the hastily established sharia courts.

In the neighboring district of Buner, a region the Taliban overran in just eight short days with minimal resistance, the Taliban are sending in more troops. The Taliban are patrolling and manning checkpoints in Buner, while its followers are preaching in mosques and openly recruiting young men to fight. Local courts have closed and judges have gone 'on leave' while a local TNSM official said his group fully backs the Taliban.

In Shangla, more than 70 Taliban fighters occupied a hospital while others fanned out and took over control of government buildings. In Swat, Buner, and Shangla, the local administration and the police did not protest the Taliban moves.

The Taliban are also signaling their intent to moving into the districts of Swabi, Malakand, and Mardan. Last week, the Taliban conducted a victory road march through the three districts after conquering Buner. The Taliban have now begun to establish armed checkpoints in Swat and Buner along the roads that border Swabi, Malakand, and Mardan.

The Swat Taliban are also flaunting their control of the region. Muslim Khan, a spokesman for Fazlullah, hit the media circuit and bragged that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and other associates were welcome to shelter in Swat.

"Osama can come here," Khan told The Associated Press on April 20. "Sure, like a brother they can stay anywhere they want. Yes, we will help them and protect them."

Khan also said the Taliban would not lay down their weapons, nor would they stop fighting until sharia was enforced throughout all of Pakistan. Jihad "will continue till the Day of Judgment," Khan told Dawn. He demanded Pakistan shut down traditional courts and threatened lawyers that they would be punished if they tried to practice law in Swat.

Khan's statements echoed those of Sufi Mohammed, the leader of the banned pro-Taliban movement that negotiated the peace agreement with the government. During a rally in Swat on April 19, Sufi said has followers would not rest until sharia is enforced through all of Pakistan.

Sufi demanded the Pakistani government halt all activities by the secular courts in Swat and decreed that decisions made by his Islamic courts cannot be challenged by Pakistan's Supreme Court. Sufi said that if his demands were not met within four days, "The government will be responsible for all the consequences if our demands are not implemented." Sufi also described Pakistan's democracy as "system of infidels."

Pakistan's government has been virtually silent on the Taliban's flaunting of the peace agreement and promises to shelter international terrorist leaders. Outside of the secular Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the MQM or the United National Movement, no political party has raised an objection to the Taliban's actions.

The MQM walked out of the parliament session that voted in favor of the sharia law. Pakistan's remaining members of parliament unanimously voted in favor of the legislation after Sufi said anyone who voted against the bill was a "non-Muslim."

Political leaders such as President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, and opposition party leader Nawaz Sharif have expressed “concerns” over the situation in Swat, but have continued to support the agreement with the Taliban. Gilani even went so far as to say the situation in Swat is "returning to normal."

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

ARTICLES FOUND APRIL 23

U.S. says nearing key moment in eastern Afghanistan
Reuters, April 22
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/22/AR2009042202473.html

U.S. and NATO forces are close to achieving "irreversible momentum" in their battle with insurgents in eastern Afghanistan, a senior commander said on Wednesday.

The Taliban and other insurgent groups have been strongest in eastern and southern Afghanistan but U.S. Army Major General Michael Tucker said security had improved this year in the east, where U.S. forces lead NATO troops.

He said about 80 percent of insurgent activity now took place in southern Afghanistan [emphasis added], where the United States plans to deploy thousands of troops in the coming months to reinforce British, Canadian, Dutch and other NATO soldiers.

"We're approaching what you could actually, cautiously term irreversible momentum in the east," Tucker told reporters at the Pentagon by videolink from Afghanistan.

Tucker, deputy chief of staff for operations for NATO and U.S. forces, said the improvement was partly due to an influx of some 4,000 U.S. troops to the area earlier this year [most of them are in Wardak and Logar provinces, in the far western part of RC East, just west and south of Kabul].

A pilot project creating a local community protection force has also begun in the east and economic development efforts are well established there, Tucker said.

"We have a combination of the right amount of forces... now to cover the area," he said.

Efforts by Pakistan to tackle militants on the other side of the border may also have helped reduce violence, he said.

In the south, Tucker reiterated the assessment of other senior U.S. officials that NATO and Afghan government forces were stuck in a stalemate with the insurgents [emphasis added].

"We just simply do not have enough forces to address the needs of the people down there," he said.

"The enemy, obviously, is taking advantage of that posture that we're certainly going to be addressing here very shortly."..

Clinton: Pakistan Poses A 'Mortal Threat'
Pakistan's government "abdicated" to the Taliban by agreeing to Islamic law in part of the country, according to the US Secretary of State.
Sky News, April 23 (several related videos at link)
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Hillary-Clinton-Pakistan-Abdicated-To-Taliban-By-Agreeing-To-Sharia-Law-In-Swat-Valley/Article/200904415267600?lpos=World_News_Top_Stories_Header_2&lid=ARTICLE_15267600_Hillary_Clinton%3A_Pakistan_Abdicated_To_Taliban_By_Agreeing_To_Sharia_Law_In_Swat_Valley_

Hillary Clinton added that the nuclear-armed nation posed a "mortal threat to the security and safety" of America and the rest of the world.

Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari, under pressure from conservatives, signed a regulation earlier this month which imposed Sharia law in the Swat Valley.

In exchange, the Taliban agreed to a "permanent ceasefire" in the region, once one of the country's main tourist destinations.

Mrs Clinton said of the decision: "I think that the Pakistani government is basically abdicating to the Taliban and to the extremists."

She also warned Pakistan's administration had to provide basic services to its people or it would find itself losing more ground to the Taliban.

"The government of Pakistan... must begin to deliver government services, otherwise they are going to lose out to those who show up and claim that they can solve people's problems and then they will impose this harsh form of oppression on women and others," she said.

Mrs Clinton made her comments in evidence to the House Foreign Affairs Committee at a hearing entitled New Beginnings: Foreign Policy Priorities in the Obama Administration.

Committee chairman Howard Berman told her the US should not allow militants to take over Pakistan or to operate with impunity on the border with Afghanistan.

The Secretary of State insisted the international community was working together to address the problem of extremism in both countries.

Reporting from the Swat Valley earlier this year, Sky's chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay said: "The Taliban are in control now and there is nothing to suggest they will be forced out [emphasis added]."

At the time, President Zardari denied the militant group had control of any part of Pakistan.

Pakistan bid to stop Taleban push
The Pakistan government has sent troops to tackle Taleban militants who have advanced into a region just 100km (67 miles) from the capital, Islamabad.
BBC, April 23
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8014167.stm

Officials say the forces will protect government buildings in Buner district, where insurgents have begun patrolling the streets and mounting checkpoints.

As the troops moved into the region, insurgents launched an attack on their convoy, killing at least one soldier.

The militants advanced from the Swat Valley, a region they largely control.

The BBC's Mark Dummett in Islamabad says if the government is trying to reassert control over the region, its efforts appear to be too little, too late.

The Taleban are reported to have moved several hundred men into Buner from the Swat Valley.

The government sent six platoons - up to 300 men - to deal with the insurgents.

A police official told the BBC that the troops were attacked as they were leaving the village of Totalai in the south of Buner district.

The convoy was heading for Dagar, the central town of the largely mountainous district.

Springboard

The confrontation comes just weeks after a peace deal was signed by President Asif Ali Zardari allowing the introduction of Islamic law in Swat.

The deal was designed to end a bloody 18-month conflict with the Taleban in Swat by yielding to some of their demands.

But critics say that the militants can now use Swat as a springboard to take over new areas of the country.

The BBC's Ilyas Khan says many people believe Buner could be the next battlefield for the Pakistani security forces after Swat...

G.I.’s to Fill Civilian Gap to Rebuild Afghanistan
NY Times, April 22
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/world/asia/23military.html?ref=todayspaper

The Obama administration is finding that it must turn to military personnel to fill hundreds of posts in Afghanistan that had been intended for civilian experts, senior officials said Wednesday.

In announcing a new strategy last month, President Obama promised “a dramatic increase in our civilian effort” in Afghanistan, including “agricultural specialists and educators, engineers and lawyers” to augment the additional troops he is sending.

But senior Pentagon and administration officials now acknowledge that many of those new positions will be filled by military personnel — in particular by reservists, whose civilian jobs give them the required expertise — and by contractors.

The shortfall offers more evidence that the government’s civilian departments have not received enough money to hire and train people ready to take up assignments in combat zones. Unlike the armed services, nonmilitary agencies do not have clear rules to compel rank-and-file employees to accept hardship posts.

Senior officials said Wednesday that the president’s national security team had not determined exactly how many people would be required to carry out the reconstruction portion of the strategy, nor which departments and agencies would be required to supply the people.

But not enough of those civilians are readily available inside the government, officials said, forcing the administration to turn to the military, Pentagon civilians and private contractors, at least for the initial deployments.

The Pentagon has already been asked to identify up to 300 people in the military, likely reservists, who have skills critical to civilian reconstruction and who could be ordered quickly to Afghanistan, according to a senior Pentagon official. Depending on the final decision for numbers required to fulfill the reconstruction mission, that military component could be half or even more of the expanded civilian development effort in Afghanistan.

The officials predicted that the requirement for the “civilian surge” would eventually include hundreds of people with experience in areas that include small-business management, legal affairs, veterinary medicine, public sanitation, counternarcotics efforts and air traffic control.

In addition, officials said, the number of diplomatic positions at the American Embassy in Kabul and at provincial reconstruction outposts could increase by several hundred more. Some officials supplied details of the plan on the condition of anonymity because the decisions were not final.

The need to identify military people as one of several interim options to carry out the civilian mission in Afghanistan was foreshadowed this week by Michele A. Flournoy, the under secretary of defense for policy, who served as a director of the Obama administration’s review of strategy in Afghanistan.

“We’re going to be looking to our reserve components, where we can tap individuals based on their civilian skill set,” Ms. Flournoy said during a speech on Tuesday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a nonpartisan policy institute here.

She said the government was still “playing a game of catch-up” after years of not setting aside money to create this civilian expertise, and she described the reliance on reservists as part of “a whole host of stopgap measures” necessary until teams of civilian experts could be created...

Mark
Ottawa

 

[GAP]

Articles found April 24, 2009

Afghanistan opens its first national park
Thursday, 23 April 2009, 16:39 CDT
Article Link

The Afghanistan National Environmental Protection Agency says it has established that country's first internationally recognized national park.

The United States Agency for International Development provided key funding for the park's creation, while the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York conducted preliminary wildlife surveys and helped identify and delineate the park's boundaries.

Known as Band-e-Amir, the park will protect one of Afghanistan's best-known natural areas -- a series of six deep blue lakes separated by natural dams made of travertine, a mineral deposit. Travertine systems are found in only a few places around the world, virtually all of which are major international tourist attractions.

At its core, Band-e-Amir is an Afghan initiative supported by the international community. It is a park created for Afghans, by Afghans, for the new Afghanistan, said Steven Sanderson, president and chief executive officer of the WCS. Band-e-Amir will be Afghanistan's first national park and sets the precedent for a future national park system.

Though much of the park's wildlife has been lost, recent surveys indicate it still contains ibex, a species of wild goat, and urial, a type of wild sheep, along with wolves, foxes, smaller mammals, fish and various bird species including the Afghan snow finch, which is believed to be the only bird found exclusively in Afghanistan.
More on link

INTERVIEW-Pakistan diplomat faults U.S. strategy
Fri Apr 24, 2009 By Adrian Croft
Article Link

LONDON, April 24 (Reuters) - Pakistan's top diplomat in Britain has criticised the new U.S. strategy on Afghanistan and Pakistan and defended his government's agreement to impose Islamic law in the northwestern Swat valley.

Wajid Shamsul Hasan, Pakistan's High Commissioner (ambassador) in London, said his personal view was that U.S. President Barack Obama's plan for fighting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, which broadens the focus to Pakistan, was the "wrong strategy".

"Pakistan is a semi-developed country and Afghanistan is not at all developed. They have never had any rule of law in their country," he told Reuters in an interview late on Thursday.

"You can't club the two countries (together)," he said.

Washington views Pakistan as crucial to its efforts to stabilise Afghanistan, where a Taliban insurgency has intensified. Surging militant violence in nuclear-armed Pakistan has also raised fears about its future.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Pakistan's government on Wednesday of abdicating to the Taliban by agreeing to impose Islamic law in the Swat valley and said the country now posed a "mortal threat" to the world.

Hasan said Clinton was "rather overstretching the issue."
More on link

Why textbooks we paid for never reached Afghanistan
By Marjorie Kehe  04.24.09
Article Link

About 45 million books – a total value of $15.4 million, paid for by the United Nations and the aid agencies of the US and Danish governments – were scheduled to arrive before classes started in Afghanistan last March. But according to the AP, millions of those books have still not been delivered.

About 500,000 books are in sitting in shipping containers in Pakistan awaiting customs clearance by the Afghan government, says the AP, while another 20 million books are said to be sitting in a warehouse in Kabul awaiting a distribution plan.

Overall, about a third of the school books ordered for 2008 were never delivered to the provinces, the AP learned from Afghan provincial officials and Education Ministry records.

Distribution within Afghanistan, of course, is anything but easy. There are safety concerns, mind-boggling transportation problems, and, in some cases, funding for book transit is non-existent. (That’s why, according to a US military liaison, there’s a school in Afghanistan that currently cannot be used for classes – it’s full to the brim with textbooks.)

Meanwhile, there have also been printing problems. Some of the printers contracted to do the work have either not completed it or done it so poorly that pages fall out or have been incorrectly collated into the wrong books.

The good news, however, is that where the books did arrive they were received with joy.

“Despite all the complaints,”  the AP reported, “teachers emphasize how happy they are to receive books at all. In the past, some said, there were only three books for a class of 30 or 40 students, so youngsters had to copy down the lesson.”

Students in Afghanistan are thirsty for education, an Afghan Education Ministry spokesman told the AP.
More on link

The sad, unlamented end of UN peacekeeping
Thursday, April 23, 2009 | 6:32 PM ET Brian Stewart CBC News
Article Link

Many Canadians look forward to the day this country can leave the war in Afghanistan behind and return to the softer challenges of blue-helmeted peacekeeping.

There is still a dogged belief that UN-sponsored peacekeeping, a term introduced by then secretary of state for external affairs Lester Pearson in 1956, is our true national vocation.

In 1990, fully 10 per cent of all UN missions were staffed by Canadians and the image of blue-helmeted Canadian soldiers policing the world's flashpoints — from Cyprus and Sinai to Kashmir — became almost as iconic as the beaver.

But those days are gone. It's time to face the harsh reality.
More on link

Clinton: Pakistan realizing threat from insurgents
By ROBERT BURNS – 1 day ago
Article Link

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pakistan is beginning to recognize the severity of the threat posed by an extremist insurgency that is encroaching on key urban areas, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday.

Clinton told a House appropriations subcommittee that the Obama administration is working to persuade the Pakistani government that its traditional focus on India as a threat has to shift to the Islamic extremists.

"Changing paradigms and mind-sets is not easy, but I do believe there is an increasing awareness of not just the Pakistani government but the Pakistani people that this insurgency coming closer and closer to major cities does pose such a threat."

On Wednesday, Clinton told another House committee that in her view the Pakistani government is "basically abdicating to the Taliban and the extremists."

She said Thursday that the administration's special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, has had "painful, specific" conversations with a wide range of Pakistanis about the need to act more effectively against the insurgents.

"There is a significant opportunity here for us working in collaboration with the Pakistani government to help them get the support they need to make that mind-set change and act more vigorously against this threat," she said, adding, "There are no promises. They have to do it."

One measure of progress in Pakistan, she said, is the extent to which the Pakistani military is shifting its troops from the Indian border to the Afghan border, where the Taliban threat has been expanding.

Clinton was appearing before the appropriations panel that is reviewing the administration's request for $7.1 billion in additional funds for the State Department this budget year.

Clinton said that local job creation is a key purpose of the $980 million in extra funds the State Department is requesting for its work in Afghanistan.

She told the panel that a main goal is to improve security at the local level in Afghanistan by putting more people to work. And she said the Obama administration believes that many in the Taliban insurgency who are fighting against American and Afghan forces are motivated more by money than by ideology.
More on link

 

[MarkOttawa]

Afghanistan: threats in Pakistan
Conference of Defence Associations' media round-up, April 24
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1240581563

Britain 'cannot afford to send more troops to Afghanistan' because of the recession
Britain cannot afford to send more troops to Afghanistan because of the mounting costs of dealing with the recession, military commanders have been told.
Daily Telegraph, April 24
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/5208925/Britain-cannot-afford-to-send-more-troops-to-Afghanistan-because-of-the-recession.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/5208925/Britain-cannot-afford-to-send-more-troops-to-Afghanistan-because-of-the-recession.html

The Daily Telegraph has learned that the Treasury is blocking Ministry of Defence plans to match a US troop surge with thousands more British soldiers on financial grounds.

Alistair Darling announced in his Budget on Wednesday that the Government will have to borrow £700 billion over the next five years as tax revenues fall and spending on items like welfare payments soar.

In private Whitehall discussions about Afghanistan, his department has argued that the ever-worsening state of the public finances means the Government simply cannot spare more money for an increased long-term commitment to the country.

Britain currently has around 8,300 troops in Afghanistan, the second-largest force after America's, which is set to grow to more than 50,000 this year.

Gordon Brown has authorised a short-term deployment of several hundred extra troops to Afghanistan to provide extra security for the country's presidential election this summer. That temporary increase will still go ahead.

Separately, ministers have been considering a permanent increase in troop numbers. Under those plans, British numbers in Afghanistan could have risen above 10,000 for the foreseeable future.

The reinforcement plan has been under discussion in Whitehall for several months, with the Treasury raising growing objections to any permanent enlargement in Britain's Afghan mission...

Mark
Ottawa